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View Full Version : Challenges....... new.......and...... Old



alscalls
04-17-2011, 10:43 AM
As I approach 40 years of hunting.... I await the up coming turkey season next week here in WV.
I will go stay at the cabin with dear friends, and enjoy good meals as well as fellowship. I can not help but to reflect on the many times I have entered the woods with a new challenge for myself....
The first big buck with a bow......or a gun...... First turkey......first turkey with a call I made....my first called deer.... My first called squirrel.... My first called coyote..... My first killed coyote..... My first time seeing a bobcat.... first time I called in a bear by accident, while coyote hunting at 2 AM.....
So many stories......and memories....
I cant help but remember one of the most satisfying hunts was many years ago when I decided to make a wing bone call and carry it into the woods to call in and kill an eastern wild turkey with it much like my ancestors did....
I set this challenge for myself.....and I stuck with it. It was frustrating.... Hard...... and More of a challenge than I had anticipated... After all the practice my wife could stand on the wingbone call at home..... I had realized it was much harder to sound like a hen when the gobbler was right there listening.... some of the sounds I made as I got excited were not unlike that of a goose getting stepped on.....

I must have scared off 20+ gobblers in my search of one I could call in...... Finally one crisp warm spring morning... I heard a gobble from the roost a half mile away....... I hurried to within 100 yds. as daylight awoke...... yelp Yelp Yelp on the wingbone and a Thundering gobble told me I was where I needed to be...... I waited...... GOBBLE.... Flap flap flap as the bird flew down then another thundering Gobble!!! Yelp yelp Yelp! on the wingbone again and he double gobbled...... I shut up knowing he was on his way..... Nothing...... Still nothing..... Yelp yelp yelp, once again.... He triple gobbled and came running in to my pitiful calling attempts...... BANG!!!! less than 20 yds. I put him down!!!!!! I did it...... It is the only one I can remember calling with a wingbone as it was one of the hardest challenges I had ever had...... and MAN am I glad I never gave up..... as I will never forget that experience.

I have killed a LOT of turkeys in my life..... God has blessed me with a place to be able to do that..... But none were more satisfying than this one...... Accept maybe the first one I ever got....
I cant wait to see what challenge I get to choose next....... Here is a pic of......
My favorite challenge.....

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh123/alscalls/goodOlDays.jpg

When I hear folks say....... Oh thats to easy..... I cant help but wonder what they are missing by not challenging their self to try something new......... It has showed me.......and taught me so much.....

prestoncohunter
04-18-2011, 02:56 PM
Great read, you are right changing things up either for an additional challenge or just for a change of pace is lots of fun.

sasquatch
04-22-2011, 12:23 AM
You're right, some people get caught in the same loop of hunting the same way from season to season, where's the fun and challenge in that? The more methods you try, the more of a well rounded hunter you'll become. Even if some of those methods don't work, you will still have learned something. Great post Al, and nice lookin' bird.

alscalls
04-22-2011, 08:30 AM
Thanks Fellas..... That is a scanned pic from Looong ago...... But I remember it like it was yesterday.....

alscalls
05-08-2011, 08:20 AM
Well fellas...... I have been at camp hunting.... eating .......sleeping.....napping..... Shooting the breeze...... and ...... well of course calling and killing more turkeys...... LOL
I called this one in on the first day...... with a cedar slate call I made, and one of Blacky's mouth calls.....
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh123/alscalls/2011TurkeyKill.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh123/alscalls/2011turkeyHunt2.jpg

Then I relaxed for a few days out there and came home for a day to shower and wash clothes......
Went back out and called this one in for a friend (Ed Mckay) using one of Blaky's mouth calls.... His first turkey ever!!!!!
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh123/alscalls/HuntWithEd23.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh123/alscalls/HuntWithEd18.jpg
Nice first bird my old friend!

Then we talked around the fire..... and Ol Ed showed me a call I had made for him Many years ago....
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh123/alscalls/EdBoxcall1.jpg

The next day I went back to the same spot and called in 8 birds and took this good eater....
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh123/alscalls/HuntWithEd9.jpg


What a great time to be alive and enjoy Gods Great Outdoors!

Souldat
05-11-2011, 12:57 PM
looks like you guys had some fun. Gratz on the turkeys